By Omar Lopez, DFER Policy Analyst
Imagine a cake, simply adorned, with three layers. This cake represents the levels of language in education reform. The layer on the bottom is the largest; it is the cliché level. The middle layer of the cake is the inequality level. The top of the cake is the granular level. Whenever a person speaks about education reform, his or her language will be pulled from one of these three levels.
The first level of education reform language is the largest: the cliché level. Although it is the largest layer in the cake, it is hollow, since it does not actually contain anything of substance. It is at this level that one will hear applause lines like:
“Education is important!”“All our kids deserve a good education!”“For too long, education has been a political football!”
These kinds of expressions are heard in massive quantities whenever the issue is brought up. Most people would agree with any of those things, so they are easy to say. It requires no courage to say that there should be more computers in classrooms, teachers should be treated like professionals or schools should be adequately funded. There’s nothing wrong with saying any of these things but they should not be confused with actually taking a stand to reform education.
Moreover, it is in this layer where gems like: “Schools are being taken over by corporations!” and “Charter schools are a profit-making scheme!” can be found. Unlike the first batch of banal phrases, these expressions are meant to sway support away from education reform issues. Language like this is unfounded and inflammatory. It relies on a lack of follow-up and can be squashed in most cases with the response, “Can you give me an example?”
The middle layer of the cake represents inequality. Half of it is beautifully decorated with delicious frosting inside; the other half is plain and unassuming like a pound cake. It is in this layer that language like the achievement gap resides. An important layer, the middle represents a long struggle in education reform to highlight the inadequate schooling options for children (overwhelmingly for students of color and in poverty). It may seem obvious to argue that poor and working class folks have not had great schooling options, but recognizing there is an issue is the first step in solving it (pardon the cliché). Historically, there has not been political support for changing education in a substantive way so that irrespective of a person’s socio-economic status, he or she has a chance to have a great education. A confluence of people and events has brought us to a place where it is widely recognized that there is a crises in education. It has been a struggle fought by activists, teachers, authors and many others.